Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of disorders 

referred to as dementia.  

Dementia is caused by damage to nerve cells in the brain.

What is Dementia?

Dementia is not a specific diagnosis.  Instead, it is a term used to describe a group of symptoms.  Those symptoms have to do with one’s intellectual ability, or the ability to think, remember, and reason.  You will also hear these abilities called cognitive abilities.  There are many conditions that can cause the symptoms of dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is one of those conditions. 

What Does Alzheimer’s Disease Do to a Person?

In many types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells in the brain die.  This cell death causes memory problems and changes in how patients think.  The cerebral cortex and the hippocampus are two areas of the brain that experience the greatest loss of nerve cells in Alzheimer’s disease patients.  These areas affect memory, speech, and  reasoning, among other things. 

Dementia will affect memory of:

       -  Recent events: what they had for breakfast (recent memory)

       -  Remote events: whether they went to school (remote memory)

       -  How to do activities: dress themselves (ADLs, IADLs)

Your relative will lose the abilities he or she had before to do things.  These are called deficit behaviors.  They may become unable to:

       -  Perform the activities of daily life (called ADLs) like bathing, dressing,

          preparing, and eating a meal

       -  Follow instructions

       -  Complete simple tasks

       -  Walk in a steady manner

Dementia affects communication ability, both their ability to say what they want to say (expressive language) and their ability to understand what others say to them (receptive language).

As nerve cells in the brain continue to die, a person with dementia begins to show changes in behavior.   This means they will do things they didn’t do before or do things in an exaggerated way.   These are called behavioral excesses.  They may have problems with:

       -  What they say (repeating words or questions, screaming)

       -  How they treat others (aggressively hitting, pinching)

       -  How they behave (restlessness, wandering, resisting care)

Alzheimer’s disease, and most other dementias are progressive.  This means that brain cells continue to die, and the patient gets worse over time.  Vascular (also called multi-infarct) dementia, can be stabilized with medication, but the patient does not usually return to normal.  At this time, we know of no way to reverse the damage done to the brain by these diseases.   

If you are caring for a family member with dementia at home, our research project on caregiving skills may be helpful.

Please call us toll free at 1-866-669-7140 for more information.